Birgit Roberts

Partner, Executive Producer, Schmoozer-in-Chief

Before co-founding HIFI, Birgit spent years producing TV commercials---but not so many years that she’s not still hot! She then went on to rock the house at Face the Music, where she served as Executive producer for four years.

She has many, many friends.

Paul Robb

Partner, Creative Director, Composer

Paul Robb began his musical career in Minneapolis in the mid-1980’s, as founder of the group Information Society. Their 1986 breakthrough smash Running, has justly been called one of the most important songs in freestyle and electro history. Defying expectations, Information Society went on to a successful recording career on Tommy Boy/Warner Brothers Records. Over the next decade, the group scored numerous Top Ten and Top Forty hits worldwide, including the #1 smash What’s on Your Mind (Pure Energy).

After leaving Information Society, Paul went on to launch a successful career in television and film music. His music has appeared on MTV, South Park, Fox, Comedy Central, hundreds of television ads, and dozens of feature films and television shows. In the meantime, under the name Brother Sun Sister Moon, he created what the Minnesota Daily called “a definitive landmark album,” while under the name Think Tank, he released several classic techno/breaks records, including the classic Hack 1.

Jack Bradley

Jack Bradley began playing piano at age 5, and stopped just a few minutes later. Thankfully that was not the last time he did so, and he only improved.

After gigs as a Broadcast Producer at Arnold, Executive Producer at Singing Serpent, and EP/Partner at BlackBoard3 Music, Jack now wields his musical mojo at Hi Fi Project.

Based in New York, he brings a lethal combination of Production, Creative and Foodie to the HiFi experience. Ask him for a wine recommendation (if you have a spare couple of hours).

Chris Heidman

Music Supervisor / Executive Producer

Chris began his musical career in 1991, forming the pioneering indie electro act Sukpatch. After releasing a full length on the bands' own Slabco label, and singles on Moshi Moshi, Sub Pop and Mo Wax, they were signed to the Beastie Boys influential label, Grand Royal. During his run with the band, he worked with the Beastie Boys, Modest Mouse, and Scissor Sisters, amongst others.

Eventually Sukpatch wound down, and Chris began to explore offering his production techniques to the film and TV world. Quickly adapting his style, he has created original music and sound design for brands such as XBOX, Subaru, Gatorade, Payless Shoesource, Harley Davidson, Cargill, BMW, 7th Generation and Best Buy to name a few.

Today Chris resides in chilly Minneapolis MN, guiding the newest branch of HiFi Project. In addition to his razor-sharp composing and sound design skills, he is also at home doing music supervision and even broadcast mixing when needed. Even though he is part of the ad community in Minneapolis, he still keeps his toes in the music business, producing and managing Rough Trade-signed buzz band "Howler". Chris is all audio, all business, all the time….And that is all you need to know!

Michael Kotch

Senior Composer / Engineer

Michael Kotch is an unrepentant rocker with a soft spot for bubblegum As co-founder of the punk-pop band Eve’s Plum, he toured worldwide and released two records on Sony. Meanwhile, word of his stellar writing and production chops leaked out, and he has written and/or produced records for Vitamin C, Hannah Montana, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, Lloyd Cole, Friendship 7, and others.

He scored music for The Sarah Silverman Program and performed as a member of the Silvermen, Sarah’s house band. In the world of admusic, Michael has scored spots for Toyota, Mattel, TJ Maxx, Nike, Bratz, Coca-Cola, Target, and many others.

Now that he’s working in Santa Monica, Michael has traded his vintage Benz for a Prius, and he promises to start Yoga classes very soon.

Aleena Bissett

Production Assistant

Raised in Los Angeles, Aleena Bissett began her music education at age 8, when her Uncle, then drummer of Tower of Power, let her have her first taste of funk from backstage. Not long after, Timothy B. Schmidt asked her to join him in seeing Don Henley at the Universal Amphitheater. He bought her a Diet Coke and she was never the same.

After high school she traveled up the coast to UC Santa Barbara, earning a BA in English Language and Art History. While in school, she cut her first solo EP record at 19, covering Ryan Adams, Lucinda Williams and The Trio. After finishing her last final, she boarded a plane to Houston - where she toured with rock band Nico Vega. She has played guitar, bass and sung in numerous Los Angeles bands since, and while you are likely to find her at every concert venue in LA, you are just as likely to catch her indulging in Golden Girls marathons.

She loves post-punk, puns, and poodles - and it has been said she makes the spiciest Bloody Mary this side of the Mississippi.

Max Petrek

Composer / Engineer

Max Petrek studied upright bass and composition at the University Of Minnesota until forgoing academics to join the Minneapolis rock group "Howler". Playing and writing on their first record "America Give Up" on Rough Trade Records, Max has since traveled with Howler extensively across Europe, Asia, and the US. Having produced music from his early teenage years, Max recently turned his attention to the advertising world. After cutting his teeth on a high profile campaign for Gap, Max is ready to take this itty bitty world by storm. Or something.

Robert Di Pietro

Composer

Robert Di Pietro, aka DP, is a drummer and a composer. He has had the pleasure to perform and/or record with Norah Jones, Josh Rouse, Jesse Harris, Elysian Fields, Ursa Minor, Alex Cuba, Smokey Hormel, Fela on Broadway, Joshua Radin, La Mar Enfortuna, Gustafer Yellowgold, Ollabelle, Priscilla Ahn, Vanessa Carlton, Kasey Chambers, as well as many others. His TV Credits include David Letterman, Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, The View, The Today Show, The Early Show, and Live from Abbey Road. He can also be seen performing (with Norah Jones) in the Seth Macfarlane movie, TED.

As a composer, he is a veteran. He has not only released 3 albums under his own name but is also responsible for the music heard on several national advertising campaigns, inclduing Best Buy, Mazda, Chevy, Tropicana, Wendy's, Macy's and many others.

Lastly, he is also responsible for inventing the world famous “Wingnut Drum Key”, currently licensed and distributed by the Evans Drum Company, a division of D'Addario Strings.

Andrea Minze

Executive Producer

The by-product of an accountant & a musician, Andrea grew up on a daily mix of LIFO, FIFO, Jimi Hendrix and Tower of Power. Poised for a future in finance/axe-shredding but feeling the need to engage in a little familial rebellion, she decided to take the novum semita, landing her a degree in creative advertising (and a penchant for telling off-color jokes in professional situations).

After eight years chasing One Show pencils and Grand Prix lions as a writer in both New York & Texas, she finally admitted to herself, then to her parents, that they might have actually been right all along! There WAS something special about that whole music + biz thing for which they had long been apostles. So Ms. Minze took the leap.

Copywriter hat traded in for that of Music Supervisor. And now, fast-forward a few years, here Andrea sits — 12th floor of 16 West 46th Street — doing what her mom & dad claim she was born to do: A little bit of bean countin’ and a whole lotta music love.